Free Crucible Zero by Devon Monk Page A

started toward the stairs. Paused at the bottom. “You lost a sister, and I’m sorry. But I lost my entire world. Everything I knew is gone or so different, it’s unrecognizable. If I can deal with that, and, believe me, I can, then you are just going to have to deal with me being me.”
    I walked up the stairs. Before I closed the door behind me, I heard him swear and throw something against the wall.
    So far I was doing just a bang-up job of fitting into this world.
    Neds were where we’d left him, down the hall, leaning in the doorway, where he could keep an eye on every wing of the house. I didn’t think he could hear what Quinten and I had been talking about. The basement was too well insulated.
    â€œI’ll take over not doing anything useful in the hallway for you,” I said. “You can go fix the pump now.”
    Right Ned grinned. “What I’m doing is all kinds of useful. I’m guarding us from the mercs in the nursery, since our life has just turned into crazy town.”
    â€œThanks for bringing the crazy, by the way,” Left Ned added.
    I could tell from the curious glint in their eyes that they were just joking. “Anytime.” I leaned on the wall across from him. “Just so you know, this”—I waved one finger around in the air—“is going exactly to plan.”
    â€œWhich part?” He settled to better face me, his hip propped against the wall.
    There was something pleasing about those boys. Sure, he wasn’t built like your average man, but those blue eyes of his, the breadth of his shoulders, the way Right Ned was almost always smiling while Left Ned rolled his eyes or scowled at him, made him approachable and interesting.
    And I knew how very kind and loyal they could be.
    They’d saved my life. They’d done so at great risk to their own.
    â€œThe whole I’m Not the Sister My Brother Wants Me to Be and the World Is a Thousand Times Weirder Than What I Remember thing,” I said.
    â€œWeirder?”
    â€œPlagues. Bombs. Mercenaries. Time troubles.”
    â€œThey didn’t have those things in your world?”
    I pulled my hands back through my hair and tried to tuck it behind my ears. First chance I got, I was going to either cut it short or braid it to get it out of my way.
    â€œSure, we had those things. But there were technology and medicine and plenty of resources to deal with it all.”
    â€œSounds like easy living.”
    â€œNot at all, really.”
    â€œQuinten coming back up here?” he asked.
    â€œI think he needs a little time. He just found out Gloria is infected with One-five.”
    â€œWell, shit,” Right Ned said. He eyed the basement door, looked me over again. “That pump needs to be fixed before nightfall. You’ve got a piece in your holster.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œDo you know how to use it?” Left Ned asked. “Have you ever fired a weapon before?”
    â€œYes and yes. Ran the farm, remember?”
    â€œThought you said your time was filled with rainbows and rabbit’s feet,” Left Ned said.
    â€œYou know how you get a lucky rabbit’s foot, right? You cut off the rest of the rabbit.”
    Right Ned chuckled. “So, you’re comfortable shooting those two clanks if you have to?”
    â€œShooting them wouldn’t do much good.” Then, at their looks: “I can hold my own if they get out of hand.”
    They both glanced down at the basement door again, and from how they held themselves, I had a moment to wonder if they could hear each other’s thoughts.
    In my time, the Harris boys had a knack of touching a person and being able to see a vision or two of their past, or sometimes of their future. It made skin-to-skin contact distasteful to them, but it had come in handy more than once.
    â€œI know this won’t make any sense to you,” I said. “But I want to thank you. For everything.